Conventional motion picture film comprises frames that are displayed sequentially at a frame rate of 24 frames per second (24 fps), or 30 fps, or some other rate. Required special effects may embodied in the displayed film.
Systems (including "telecine" systems) have been developed for converting motion picture film into video signals. These systems generate a video signal from motion picture film images by scanning the film frames sequentially to generate digitized film images. They then convert the digitized images into a video signal having a standard video frame rate (25 video frames per second for PAL video, 29.99 video frames per second for NTSC video, or 30 video frames per second for SMPTE-240M high definition video). Each video frame consists of two fields.
Conventional film scanning systems typically include circuitry for performing color correction on scanned images in real time (either before or after the images are digitized). To enable a user to perform color correction in a convenient manner, some conventional systems of this type are capable of generating a composite video signal comprising complementary portions of a color corrected image and a reference image, for split screen display on a video monitor.
During color correction, the user typically defines a "test" set of color correction parameters, and the system generates a "test" color corrected signal by processing one or more scanned images in accordance with a color correction algorithm determined by the test parameters. The user can then refine the test parameters. For example, the user can refine the test parameters to cause the system to produce a color corrected signal which, when displayed, has a color appearance matching that of a reference image.
However, until the present invention, convenient user interface software had not been developed for initiating selected processing operations on selected digitized film scenes. Nor had conventional systems generated icons representing digitized film scenes and scene processing operations (such as the operation of transferring a scene from one storage location to another) for use in initiating selected processing operations on selected ones of the scenes.